1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates generally to microplate shakers, and more particularly to an electromagnetic microplate shaker of simplified construction comprising a microplate support tray resiliently mounted above a base through biasing means, and an electromagnetic drive for imparting vibratory motion to the microplate support tray through a controlled arc to mix the microplate well contents irrespective of the diameter of the wells.
2. Description of the Background
The processing of biological specimens or chemical products in laboratories often requires the mixing of analytes within a container in order to carry out a desired reaction. Such containers have often comprised beakers or flasks whose contents were traditionally mixed by either manually shaking the beaker or flask, or by using a stirring rod. Other mixing apparatus have included a Teflon coated magnet placed within a beaker or flask and driven magnetically in a rotary motion to mix the beaker or flask contents. Unfortunately, manually shaking the beaker or flask provides insufficient means to control the mixing of the contents and easily results in laboratory technicians accidentally dropping the container and ruining the sample. Likewise, the use of stirring rods has required that the laboratory technician either thoroughly wash the rod between specimens in order to avoid cross-contamination, or throw away and replace disposable rods for applications with large numbers of specimens, making the rapid mixing of large numbers of specimens highly impractical.
In order to overcome these shortcomings, motor driven orbital shakers were developed which enabled a laboratory technician to place a beaker or flask on a motor driven platform that would cause the beaker or flask to travel in a continuous orbit to mix its contents. So long as the diameter of the beaker or flask holding a sample is greater than the orbit diameter of the platform, mixing of the contents will occur. For example, as shown in the schematic view of a prior art orbital mixer of FIG. 1a, the center of the flask travels in an orbital path equivalent to the orbit of the platform, and the centrifugal forces on the liquid will reverse every 180xc2x0 to provide adequate mixing of the contents.
However, as the number of specimens needed to be analyzed in a given time period has grown, the quest for efficiency in the processing of such specimens has resulted in smaller and smaller sample sizes being studied, and thus smaller and smaller containers for holding those samples. Unfortunately, as smaller sized beakers and flasks were used, those orbital shakers having an orbit diameter that was larger than the beaker or flask diameter were shown to be ineffective for mixing the contents. For example, as shown in the schematic view of a prior art orbital mixer of FIG. 1b, a beaker or flask having a diameter that is smaller than the orbit diameter of the mixer simply travels in the shaker""s orbit, and centrifugal forces drive the liquid contained within the beaker or flask against the side of the container which is furthest from the center of orbit. If there are any suspended solids in the liquid, they will likewise be driven against the outside wall of the container. In order to alleviate this problem, a few orbital shakers have been made available having orbit diameters of as little as xe2x85x9xe2x80x3.
As the need for processing greater numbers of samples in shorter amounts of time continued to grow, microplates were developed to hold multiple samples of a chemical or biological material to be analyzed in a single, compact structure having a rectangular grid of a large number of distinct xe2x80x9cwells.xe2x80x9d Such microplates are available today in 96-well, 384-well, and even 1536-well configurations. Obviously, the greater the number of wells in a standard microplate footprint, the smaller the diameter of the well, such that for microplates formed with numerous wells having a diameter of far less than xe2x85x9xe2x80x3, an orbit of far less than xe2x85x9xe2x80x3 would likewise be required in order to ensure proper mixing. However, in utilizing wells of such small dimensions, surface tension of the liquid and its kinematic viscosity begin to affect the mixing process to a great degree, as does the effect of gravity acting on suspended solids or in mixing liquids of differing specific gravities. Horizontal orbital shakers have thus been ineffective in shaking microplates having such small sized wells.
Given the failure of orbiting mixing apparatus to provide an effective means of mixing the contents of microplates, attempts have been made in the past to provide mixing apparatus specifically configured for mixing the contents of microplate wells, but unfortunately have met with little success. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,446 to Kurosawa et al. discloses a microplate shaking device using an eccentric motor to uncontrollably vibrate a microplate holding plate through a horizontal plane. The Kurosawa et al. device unfortunately fails to provide any measure for ensuring the uniform application of a controlled vibration having both horizontal and vertical directional components, as has been found necessary in order to ensure adequate mixing of samples bearing suspended particulates.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,649 to Sasaki discloses a microplate shaker device which pivotally mounts a microplate to a vibration plate, and slidably mounts the microplate atop a number of props. The vibration plate is caused to vibrate by either an electromagnet or an eccentric wheel in a nonlinear, horizontal manner. Thus, as with the Kurosawa et al. device, the Sasaki device fails to provide any measure for ensuring the uniform application of a controlled vibration having both horizontal and vertical directional components.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,559 to Price discloses a mixing device for a specimen holder comprising two springlike metal rods upon which a specimen holder is mounted, the rods being fixed at one end in a vertical block, and a weight positioned adjacent the opposite end of the rods. Manually plucking one of the rods imparts a xe2x80x9cpendulum-likexe2x80x9d vibration to both rods, and thus to the specimen holder. However, once again, the Price device fails to provide any measure for applying a controlled horizontal and vertical vibration to the specimen holder""s contents.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,477 to Tomes et al. discloses an agitating apparatus for a xe2x80x9cwell plate holderxe2x80x9d which comprises a vertically-oriented reciprocating saw as a means for vertically shaking a multi-well plate, and provides agitating members comprising small diameter copper or stainless steel balls within each well. As with each of the above-referenced prior art devices, the Tomes et al. device fails to provide any means for applying a controlled horizontal and vertical vibration to a microplate to thoroughly mix its contents.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a microplate shaker of simplified construction which will ensure the efficient mixing of the contents of microplates of all sizes, while keeping suspended solids truly suspended during the mixing cycle.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker which can efficiently mix the contents of microplates of all sizes while keeping suspended solids truly suspended during the mixing cycle.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker which enables the contents of a microplate to be properly mixed in a shorter amount of time than has been previously required by prior art devices.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker which enables the effective mixing of the contents of a plurality of microplates during a single mixing process.
It is even yet another object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker of simplified design over prior art devices which ensures thorough mixing of the microplate""s contents irrespective of the diameter of the microplate wells.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker of a more compact size than has been previously available in prior art shakers to enable such a shaker to be readily placed within a refrigerator or incubator for temperature-sensitive mixing applications.
It is still even yet another object of the present invention to provide a microplate shaker which consistently applies a controlled vibration to the contents of each well of one or more microplates, which vibration includes both horizontal and vertical directional components so as to ensure thorough mixing of the well contents and the maintenance of any suspended particles in a suspended state.
In accordance with the above objects, an electromagnetic vibratory microplate shaker is disclosed of simplified design and improved mixing capability over previously known microplate shaker devices. The electromagnetic vibratory microplate shaker of the instant invention comprises an electromagnetic drive assembly mounted within a rigid base and operatively connected to a microplate support tray. The support platform is in turn supported by a plurality of leaf springs which are tilted approximately 20xc2x0 from vertical. During operation, an electromagnet is rapidly energized and de-energized causing an armature of the drive assembly to be pulled in and released up to 7,200 times per minute, in turn imparting a reciprocating vibration to the support platform and the microplates held thereon. Such a vibration causes eddy currents to be created within the individual microplate wells which have both horizontal and vertical components, thus ensuring thorough mixing of the contents of each microplate well irrespective of the diameter of the well, while keeping suspended solids truly suspended during the mixing cycle.